Batman & Robin - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts

[lonnie]

The villainous character Bane was created in 1993 by comic book writer Chuck Dixon and artist Graham Nolan. In the comics he is subjectively the strongest and most intelligent foe that Batman has ever faced.

[ella]

The Batman costume was a 50 lbs. (22.6 kg.) rubber body suit with a 40 lb. (18 kg.) rubber cape attached to the headpiece. Batgirl's and Robin's costumes weighed 50 lbs. (22.6 kg.) each. Mr. Freeze's weighed 75 lbs. (34 kg.).

[scarlett]

Celebrities like Jesse Ventura and Jon Bon Jovi would stop by the set to hang out with Arnold Schwarzenegger and smoke cigars. Bon Jovi would hand deliver the Cuban cigars to the set, which Schwarzenegger would have painted white so that he could smoke them during filming (for real). There was an 11 person team required to get the actor into his makeup and costume for Mr. Freeze. The team had to work fast because Schwarzenegger had a strict 12-hour limit per day written into his contract and would have handlers feeding him and massaging his hands while he was in the makeup chair.

[mathew]

Two extras were arrested and fired after attempting to sell secretly shot footage.

[christina]

Rated #5 in Entertainment Weekly's Top 25 Worst Sequels Ever Made (2006).

[phyllis]

As of 2015, this is the only Batman film in which Bruce Wayne's love interest does not learn he is secretly Batman. Elle Macpherson's character (Julie Madison) here remains oblivious while Kim Basinger (Vicki Vale) in Batman (1989), Michelle Pfeiffer (Selina Kyle/Catwoman) in Batman Returns (1992), Nicole Kidman (Chase Meridian) in Batman Forever (1995), Katie Holmes and Maggie Gyllenhaal, who played Rachel Dawes in Batman Begins (2005) and The Dark Knight (2008) respectively, and both Marion Cotillard (Miranda Tate) and Anne Hathaway (Selina Kyle/Catwoman) in The Dark Knight Rises (2012) learn who Batman really is. However, another lead female character, Barbara Wilson/Batgirl, does discover his secret.

[chad]

Screenwriter Akiva Goldsman was blamed for ruining the movie. Director Joel Schumacher defended him, quoting, "Akiva Goldsman was blamed for this sort of lightness and humor and fun and games, but that's not fair. I take full responsibility. I mean Akiva did write the script, but I shot it and worked with Akiva so you know if you love a movie there are hundreds of people who made it lovable for you. If you don't like, it blame the director. That's what our names are there for."

[kristina]

Akiva Goldsman drew inspiration from Neil Gaiman's revised origin story, Poison Ivy: Pavane, first published in January of 1989 in Secret Origins #36. Pavane is where the Jason Woodrue murder attempt comes from, as well as the name Pamela Isley. Prior to this her name was Lillian Rose.

[charlie]

The Oxbridge Academy, Barbara's fictional university in England, is really a combination of the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge. Oxbridge is used jokingly in American pop culture to refer to any British college graduate.

[sophie]

Arnold Schwarzenegger is reputed to have earned $25 million for playing Mr. Freeze.

[ethel]

During shooting, George Clooney visited his friends on the set of ER (1994) in full costume.

[harry]

Most of the scenes with Batgirl were cut, because Alicia Silverstone had gained a few pounds during production and the wardrobe team had to refit her costume. When the press discovered the news, they slammed Silverstone's weight gain and mocked the actress for being "too fat" to fit into her costume. Director Joel Schumacher publicly defended Silverstone during interviews and press meetings, joking "What is this girl's big sin - that she ate some pizza?" When the taunting continued, Schumacher lashed out at the reporters that taunted her. He said in a magazine interview, "It was horrible. I thought it was very cruel. She was a teenager who gained a few pounds - like all of us do at certain times. I would confront female journalists and I'd say, 'With so many young people suffering from anorexia and bulimia, why are you crucifying this girl?' "

[tamara]

Critically Uma Thurman's performance in the film sometimes receives acclaim, albeit only seen as an excise in camp. At the time The New York Times wrote in a positive review, "like Mae West, she mixes true femininity with the winking womanliness of a drag queen". A similar positive comparison was made by the Houston Chronicle: "Thurman, to arrive at a '40s femme fatale, sometimes seems to be doing Mae West by way of Jessica Rabbit". In addition, the San Francisco Chronicle pointed out that "Poison Ivy is the film's best creation. She's a radical environmentalist who gets bitten by snakes and buried in vines only to rise up, gorgeous and redheaded, like Botticelli's Venus. Like America's original femme fatale, Beatrice in Hawthorne's 'Rappaccini's Daughter', Ivy has a poisonous kiss. Like Dietrich in 'Blonde Venus', she shows up at a ritzy affair in a gorilla suit". Thurman won a Blockbuster Entertainment Award for "Best Actress - Sci-Fi" in her role as Poison Ivy, and was also nominated for Favorite Movie Actress in the Kids' Choice Awards, and only lost to her co-star, Alicia Silverstone as Batgirl. However, she was nominated for Worst Supporting Actress in the Golden Raspberry Awards (Razzie Awards), but lost to Silverstone for the second time.

[jamie]

Mr. Freeze says 27 "ice puns" throughout the movie.

[kristina]

First Batman film to not feature one of the four villains from [Batman: The Movie](/category/9306/Batman) (1966). Joker appeared in Batman (1989) and Batman: Mask of the Phantasm (1993), Penguin in Batman Returns (1992), Catwoman in Batman Returns (1992) and Riddler in Batman Forever (1995).